


S'mores and Smoke Part II

by DragonflyxParodies



Series: Capricorn [5]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: And also very protective, Cass wants her brothers to get along, For Real!, Ft. my lazarus pit headcanons, Gen, He's Cass's brother, I don't know if it's Mad Dog or The Mad Dog, Super Assassin v 1, The Lazarus Pit is mildly sentient, They go camping, so everybody gets a happy ending, this is a feel good au technically, y'know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:53:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26185984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonflyxParodies/pseuds/DragonflyxParodies
Summary: Cass' camping trip has a Secret Mission she didn't warn her brothers about. Luckily, they get along anyway.(Continuation of S'mores and Smoke; Ft. The End I Didn't Write Because I Couldn't Figure Out How To Get Here.)
Relationships: Cassandra Cain & Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain & The Mad Dog, Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake, Jason Todd & The Mad Dog, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & The Mad Dog
Series: Capricorn [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1045871
Comments: 10
Kudos: 165





	S'mores and Smoke Part II

“I uh, thought we’d be camping _locally.”_ Jason says, and Cassandra cannot keep her smile from wavering, just a touch, as she shoulders her way through a particularly thick tangle of vines. Jason had been kind, had shouldered their equipment himself. Even now, even _thoughtlessly_ , he is kind – lifting an arm to let a stray branch _thwack_ against his flesh rather than Tim’s head, the boy too focused on where he is stepping to notice.

Jason’s eyes narrow at her, and though he radiates unease, he does not stop moving.

“…Yearly. Trip. Come…visit.”

Tim’s head snaps up.

“Who the hell do you know that lives out in the middle of the _jungle,_ Cass?”

She breaks into a clearing, then – the clearing – and does not answer. Her brothers tumble out after her, and Jason sucks in a breath so sharp it must cut him. His eyes are greener than she’s ever seen them, when they dart to her.

“Can you feel it?” Jason asks her.

Cassandra had died here, and lived here. She’d _killed_ here, and it was only the Pit that bubbled beneath the earth they walked upon that had allowed that.

It was how she’d _known._ How Jason had – _what_ Jason had gone through. But he is different. She’s been seeing it in every breath he takes, every twitch and every tilt of his head, since his return. ( _she’d watched the videos, repeat on repeat on –)_

She shakes her head. She thinks she knows _who_ this particular Lazarus Pit has claimed, like Ra’s’ did Jason. But she will not ask, and she will not test it.

“How’d you…?”

She’s not the words for this.

“Have…brother. Cain…old student. Failed. I…success.”

Tim’s eyes go wide.

“You – and what, he lives here? Is he like you?”

“Mad.” She says, and then the sound of something _running_ through the jungle reaches them. Jason’s expression sours with irritation, and Tim jumps when her brother finally launches himself out of the trees and into her.

He’s – _joy excitement bright relief happiness._ They tussle; he does not know how to express himself without violence. But bruises are not real hurt, and he settles beside her eventually, an arm slung tight around her waist and face buried in her hair as he chatters nonsense at her. And this is progress, because he no longer seeks to spill blood or still beating hearts to express himself. It’s monumental, though it might not seem enough to the rest of her family.

“New?” He asks, and she turns her head in time to see Jason offer an awkward little half-moon wave with one hand. Tim is just staring.

“My brothers.” She says, and he bolts up. She’s told him of her family.

“The big bird?”

“Baby bird. And…ghost.”

Jason looks bemused; Tim still looks confused. And her brother releases her, tilts his head at an angle that nearly makes her wince, and scrambles for Jason.

She is afraid, for a moment – unsure of what they will do, the Pit rising too bright and brilliant in their blood, in her blood, to make out their motions. Jason bares his teeth and lifts his chin, and her brother halts in his tracks. Jason’s eyes are glowing, bathing his face pale and spectral even in the daylight.

“Is this Pit stuff?” Tim asks hesitantly, and Cass motions for him to come to her as she nods. He does, dropping his backpack behind Jason and lunging eagerly for the safety of her proximity.

Her blood sings in her veins. She nearly rises, nearly steps between her brothers – but this is a fight between two titans. Or, _one_ titan, she thinks.

Jason’s Pit is older, stronger, and it bleeds in him like a waterfall. It breathes with the Green now, stronger for its unlikely union – both forces want her brother alive, and frankly she’s grateful for that. Jason’s more in control, too – he does not obey the whispers lurking in the back of his mind. He listens to them, Cassandra sees, but when he does as they plead it is a deliberate choice. He exhibits a level of autonomy even she is unable to, and this too she thinks is due to the Green.

Her brother, Cain’s eldest, has no such control. One rules the Pit; one is ruled _by_ the Pit – even if this smaller, weaker one is less vicious.

There is a long moment of absolute stillness, and then Jason crouches down and lets her brother hug him, too.

Just like that, the Pit recedes, and the tension fades.

“We brought stuff for s’mores.” Tim says, loudly, and that has her brother’s attention like nothing else.

“I’ll start a fire.” Jason sighs, as if he _hadn’t_ been the one to pack _explosives_ because _it’s my emotional support C4, Cass, what do you expect me to do?_

She’s crying, she realizes, smiling so widely that her cheeks _hurt_.

“I – get it. We’ll be here for him, too.” Jason murmurs to her, squeezes her hand in his own, before he strides off into the undergrowth.

Her other two brothers are on her in a moment, demanding to know whether she’s alright or not.

This time, when Cassandra falls back to the grass at her feet, she goes willingly.

**Author's Note:**

> So, technically, I have a backlog of things to post. But I'm also trynna work on a Project that I want to be able to link/announce/whatever when I post the Other Stuff. So while I stress over that I guess; I hope you enjoyed this!  
> ((it's my thesis, i'm making it a video, that's still on the table))  
> In the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy, stay sane, and do what you gotta do to get through this shitshow of a year. <3


End file.
